Ricardo Chavira

Ricardo Antonio Chavira was born on Sept. 1, 1971 in Austin, TX, where his parents, Juan and Elizabeth - ex-Peace Corps members from Mexico - raised him until he reached the early grades, during which time the family headed for San Antonio. Chavira's father, who later became a renowned judge in the court system, was a legal prosecutor who often brought along his son to watch him in courtroom action. In San Antonio, Chavira attended Robert E. Lee High School. At age 16, by then one of three siblings, he was forced to watch his mother pass away after coping with breast cancer for six years. It was an event that affected and shaped his life profoundly, and occasionally prompted frustrations tha...